Mori Ogai (1862-1922), as is well known, holds the highest rank, together with Natsume Sôseki (1867-1916), one of the two most excellent figures in the history of modern Japanese literature. And yet Ogai, different from Sôseki who changed his course of life from professor to novelist, went through his bureaucratic career as an army surgeon and finally reached the top position of it, producing at the same time a vast number of significant works in the wide domain of the literary field.